Islamic Training Program-Forging A Stronger Relationship With Allah June 25Th and 26Th 2011

Assalaamu Alikum, 

  I want to thank the brothers and sisters of the National Islamic Association (N.I.A.) masjid for allowing me to come to another one of their great programs. It taught me a lot of different ways to make my relationship with Allah stronger than how I was currently doing it before. I am always striving to perfect myself as a Muslim and I believe as Muslims we must always strive to do better today than we did yesterday even if it’s a small amount of something as long as we take the Naseeb of it (Naseeb means good portion). Besides the learning aspect of the program, it was good to see the familiar faces of the brothers at the masjid that I haven’t seen since last time in April when I came for the second program. I was totally relaxed and didn’t feel awkward around anyone there at N.I.A. masjid which I consider to be a second home masjid for me. I really appreciated hanging out with my cousin Taahir and his friends who always treat me as one of their friends too even though I’m not there as much as I can or should be, it was still a nice experience for me. I also got to see my Uncle Naseeb from Fort Lauderdale as he came to be part of the program which was an added bonus I must say. I also liked the topics that every speaker talked about even though I kind of was falling asleep during some of the second day’s talks, it wasn’t intentional but that’s what happens when you only get three hours of sleep in a program. The breakfast and other food was very good and much better this time around, I want to thank everyone for helping to feed us during the program because I know that couldn’t of been easy to do. I also want to thanks Uncle Ashraf for picking me up at the train station because I was originally going to take another train or bus to get to the N.I.A. masjid myself but it was a great blessing and help that he came for me instead. 

I had loads of fun and learned a lot there. I saw a few brothers from New York there and I was happy about the turn out for the program. I was sort of sad that so many brothers had to leave the program for work but I guess when work calls you either go to work or get fired so I don’t want anyone getting fired so I understand why they left. 

After being at so many programs (2 programs) I feel that we brothers here in NY can run our own program here and show the brothers of NJ and FL that we too can pull off a program if we were to pull our strengths together and decided when to do another here in NY.

Walaikum Assalaam

11 months ago  /  2 notes

Maryland, Here We Come: A Journey For The Family.

My trip to Maryland was a nice experience again just like the first time I went last year during Fourth of July weekend. This time around there wasn’t that much traffic so it was smooth driving (was going to use sailing but decided driving is better because then people might think we were on a boat. lol) from home in New York to Maryland. We stopped in Delaware to grab a bite to eat before driving a little further distance into Maryland. 

The main reason why we went to Maryland was because of one of my parents’ friends son died and we went there as moral support for him in his time of need. It was sad that his son was taken so young at 29 years of age. We paid our condolences as we saw his son’s body in the casket which is being shipped to Trinidad where they had more family there to do a big funeral with all family and friends. 

The second reason why we went to Maryland is to spend some time with our cousins Emma and Ryan who live there, it was nice seeing everyone again almost a full year past since we last seen them. They have a Wii and we played some Super Mario game along with going onto the internet looking up funny videos on YouTube LX. We ate a lot of Chinese Food on both Saturday and Sunday. 

The drive home on Sunday was not too bad either but as usual once I reached New York that’s when all the crazy taxi drivers who like to cut you off and don’t signal while they switch lanes while texting/talking on their phone while driving which is against the law, at least in Delaware I’m assure of it because I saw big signs saying that Texting and Driving is against the law so not sure if it’s the same here in New York but it should be. It’s scary trying to drive carefully in New York with all these taxi drivers barely looking over the steering wheel and texting while driving. 

1 year ago  /  1 note

3 Movies, 2 Cool Weekends and A Nice Wedding.

I wake up on Sunday February 20th 2011 and my Mom tells me that we’re going to New Jersey for the weekend to hang out with my cousins there and my other ones coming from Canada. 

First I’m starting from last week where we left New York and drove to New Jersey to chill with our cousins who live in South Orange. We were going there to hang with our cousins as well as our other cousins from Canada who would be coming to my Aunt’s house. We had a blast hanging with my cousins Taahir, Saarah, Safia and Maryam playing Nintendo Wii and watching the movie Unstoppable which stars Denzel Washington.

My other cousins from Canada was there too and we chilled with them and we were also playing Indian Music (Bollywood) from YouTube. We bought a lot of Chinese Food and Snacks for this weekend so we chilled out eating junk food and drinking Cream Soda. We left there on Monday which was President’s Day and we were greeted by 7” of snow. It was very nice hanging with my cousins from Canada and New Jersey. It was something very much needed for not just myself but for my brother too because he actually had someone to hang with out besides his friends from Masjid. It was also very good for my Mom because I have never seen her laugh so much like when she is over at my Aunt’s house in New Jersey.

 5 Days later and it’s February 25th 2011 and my two cousins from Florida Jawaad and Raa’id stayed over at my house and we ended up watching the movie The Spy Next Door starring Jackie Chan, George Lopez and Billy Ray Cyrus. It was a very nice movie where Jackie Chan played a guy named Bob Ho who was a secret agent watching over a family and he finishes his job by stopping a big criminal but the criminal escapes and Bob Ho is targeted by him and his crime syndicate unknowing to Bob Ho because he is watching the neighbor’s chiildren and he likes their mom/step-mom while trying to get the children to like him. The son downloads some file which makes an enzyme to eat all the oil but the oil in Russia. Bob Ho stops him and shows that he and the kids like each other but the mother didn’t like him since he kept the secret that he was a spy even though he tried to tell her earlier in this movie but the kids tell her that there is no one else out there like Bob so later on they get married and live as a family. 

After the movie we played the card game BS (Card Game where everyone tries to get rid of their cards by saying the number of the card in ascending order while they cheat to get rid of their cards as other players say BS and if their right the person picks them up but if their wrong the person who accuses the other has to pick them up.) And then on the Sunday February 28th 2011, we (my sister and I) went to my cousin Samiyah’s wedding (not direct cousin as she is my cousin Raa’id, Jawaad, Nabeeha and Wardah direct cousin). I had a good time even though the food was a little bit too spicy but at least I got to see someone at the wedding that I hoped would be there. After the wedding, we went and saw the new Adam Sandler Movie Just Go With It and it also stars Jennifer Aniston. It was a very good movie as it was about a Dentist who liked this hot chick but needed to use his assistant(Aniston)’s family to portray that he and her were divorced. Through out the movie he tries to get the hot chick to like him but the son tricks him and they all end up in Hawaii where the boy wanted to swim with the dolphins but he can’t swim so Adam’s character teaches him how to swim so that later the son can swim with the dolphins. At the end of the movie Adam Sandler’s character discovers that he can’t marry the hot chick but instead Jennifer Aniston’s character.

That ends my blog and hope everyone likes my post including that person I saw at the wedding. lol 

1 year ago  /  Notes

My Winter Vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Dec 29-Jan 08)

Hey; Assalaamu Alikum, 

My Winter Vacation starts like every other trip to Florida heading to the airport to catch the plane but this time it was different because instead of going to John F. Kennedy Airport we (my brother and I) went to LaGuardia Airport and also instead of going on Jetblue, we went on Spirit Airlines (Don’t ever fly with Spirit, not worth it because no TV like Jetblue). We left late Wednesday Night on the 28th of December because that’s the flight we got and arrived three hours later in Fort Lauderdale, Florida around Midnight on December 30th. 

My Uncle Naseeb picked us up from the Airport, and we drove to his house to sleep for the night because it was late and didn’t think it would be a good idea to go and drive to my grandmother’s condo and waking her up. 

After not eating for three+ hours on the plane, we were starving and ate a couple of good slices of pizza from Papa John’s. After filling our stomachs with pizza and soda, we watched TV until 3 o’clock in the morning before calling it a night. 

We woke up the next day and had a very nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns and orange juice. We packed up our stuff and headed for grandma’s condo now but first we went to some stores on our way going there such as The Container Store and America Pie Pizzeria (yes there is a real American Pie Pizzeria in Florida). We arrived later at grandma’s and chilled most of the time there. 

Everyday was practically the same routine over and over by my grandma’s that we got up, eat breakfast, prayed and then alternate watching TV and praying. We watched a lot of Family Feud and The Game on BET. With the exceptions of two days thanks to my cousins Nabeeha and Jawaad. 

On the first day of exception, Jawaad took us bowling and on the second day Nabeeha took us to the grave to see our grandpa’s headstone. It was so nice hanging with my cousins and my grandma in Fort Lauderdale but I was starting to miss my own home and my mom in New York. 

All in all I would say that this trip to Florida was something I need to recharge my batteries and to help me be a better Muslim (now I’m trying really hard to pray all five salaahs like I should). 

Walikum Assalaam, 

Tariq Mohamed 

1 year ago  /  Notes

My Weekend Trip to New Jersey

Assalaamu Alaikum,

I have to say that my trip to New Jersey, one of my favorite places to be beside home in Queens, New York; was a blast because I got a chance to hang out with my cousins in NJ and two more cousins from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

I drove from my house to my cousin’s house in South Orange, New Jersey in about an hour time. It was real easy driving along with the right kind of music pumping on the car stereo. Along with me on my trip to NJ was my brother Javid, my mom and my sister Shazeeda. We packed up the trunk and stopped to fill up gas before heading out on our trip to NJ. I was the driver and my brother Javid was the copilot and the DJ and the Navigator all in one lol. He gave me good directions at time when the GPS was going crazy.

When we reached at my cousin’s house, we tried to surprise everyone but only my aunt and one of my cousins were home, the rest was out so we ate some lunch of cook up rice and meaty pasta while watching TV until everyone returned home.  

After that my cousin Taahir, Javid and myself left my cousin’s house to pick up our other cousin who was in Newburg, NJ at a conference. We had to make a few stops along the way for Taahir’s uncle. We then picked up our cousin Jawaad from the conference and then we drove to Rahway, NJ where we four went and saw a Islamic Night of Inspiration concert featuring Native Deen and Maher Zain.

The weather outside was very freezing and I had forgot my denim jacket at my cousin’s house. My cousin Jawaad and I stood in the line as my other cousin Taahir and my brother Javid parked the car. Eventually we got in and took our seats and waited for both the concert to begin and for Taahir and Javid to come where we were. 

The concert started out with a brief introduction of what Islamic Relief was about and who it helped over the years as well as a history of how long they have been in business. 

There was a lot of Muslims here at the concert, screaming requests of Islamic raps that the artists should sing next.

To me, the second act, Native Deen should of been on longer than the closing act of Maher Zain because I liked them a little better than Maher Zain because his style was more of a love song kind of rhythm where as Native Deen was a more cooler rap laid back kind of flow that sounded really cool. I have never been to one of these types of concerts before but I must admit it was a blast being there and taking in the whole event. 

After the concert, we all meet up with brothers and sisters; friends of my cousin Taahir and we had ourselves some Biryani rice and some other good food. I must say that at first I didn’t like the taste of the rice but eventually got over the taste and ate out my plate of food. 

By the time we got back to our cousins house it was 12:30sh and then we started to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. I didn’t play because I didn’t feel like playing but my brother Javid and our two cousins Taahir and Jawaad was playing until Jawaad fell asleep. My brother Javid and Taahir played a little bit more before calling it a night on the video games. My other cousin Raa’id came home later and totally crashed out on his bed after playing a very competitive game of bowling with his fiancées family.  

The next day we woke up and ate toasted Guyana bread and tennis roll. That’s one of the greatest breakfast you could have, I would say. I of course had it with hot chocolate as I am not a coffee or tea guy. After a little while we left to head back home to NY and we hugged everyone and thanked them for having us over for the weekend as well as wishing our cousins Jawaad and Raa’id a safe trip back home to Ft. Lauderdale. 

I truly loved this trip to NJ, I just wished I had longer time to spend with them, maybe next time will be a longer trip or maybe next time we all could just go and visit my grandmother in Hollywood, FL and relax in her pool. That would be so worth it. Lol

Walaikum Assalaam, 

Tariq Mohamed

1 year ago  /  0 notes

Election Day

Assalaamu Alaikum, 

Today is Tuesday, November 2nd 2010.

Above today besides being another normal Tuesday for me, it’s Election Day.

Today I’m going early in the morning with my mom to vote for numerous people, some of them I have never even heard of unlike Chuck Schumer and Andrew Cuomo. 

I really had hoped my brother Javid would vote today as well but he doesn’t want to vote after working for one of the person’s running named Albert Baldeo.

I hope when it comes time to vote for the President of the United States of America that my brother will change his mind and vote then. 

I’m not really looking forward to voting as I never really am but just do because I know it’s one of my rights as an American citizen to vote in order to bring about change in this country. 

Hopefully at 6 something in the morning, there won’t be a long line or any line at the polling station period. 

The place where I’m going to vote is my brother’s old elementary school P.S.108Q which is located on 109 St. and on 109 Ave. 

I heard the polling machines are updated now so no more pushing levers and straining to lift those heavy metal bars.

Thanks for that update, much appreciated. 

Whomever reads this before voting today, I hope you guys or girls go out there and use your right to vote to bring about change in this country and for the ones who read this after you have voted, thank you for voting today and let’s do it again next time for the President of the United States.

Walaikum Assalaam,

Tariq Mohamed

1 year ago  /  0 notes